Phantom: Mystery Meat
by LizzieLovett2326
Summary: My first real fan fiction, and a retelling of the first Danny Phantom episode from a more serious perspective. I'm just trying it out, seeing how it reads. It's not exactly like the series, but all the changes are to make the story more realistic to an older audience. More chapters to come soon!
1. Chapter 1

Mystery Meat: Part 1

Danny had gone down to the basement to get his mom's signature for a field trip. He had seen the sign on the door that said "Testing Trans-Dimensional Portal, Do Not Enter", but his parents' basement door signs always said stuff like that. They were ghost fanatics, always had been, but their ghost catching inventions never worked. It was only the week before that they were running around a 'haunted house' with their new 'Fenton Thermos', trying to vacuum ectoplasmic beings out of the air. Danny and his sister, Jazz, were used to it by now.

When Danny reached the bottom of the steps, he saw his parents standing behind a plexiglass wall, looking at the empty metal doorway they'd been welding together for weeks. It stood about a foot from the cinderblock basement wall, and electrical coils jutted out the sides at regular intervals. Despite the symmetry, it looked thrown together-as did the entire lab. Ghost research didn't pay well, so most of the Fentons' equipment was collected on night raids to the town dump.

Danny walked over to his parents, who were fiddling around with a control board for the doorway.

"Mom," he said, "Could you-" His mom turned to look at him.

"Danny! Didn't you see the sign?"

"I just wanted your signature for a field trip," Danny said.

"Maddie," Jack Fenton said coaxingly, "Let him stay! I'm sure he'd like to see the activation of the first Trans-Dimensional Portal to the Ectodimensional plane."

"Dad, really, it's fine. I just need-"

"Danny, get behind the wall, you can see everything from here," Maddie Fenton said, and dragged him by the arm.

And so Danny was stuck watching another failed invention. It was a good thing his parents had day jobs, or his family would be out on the street by now. His dad toggled a few switches on the control board. The electric coils fizzled a little bit, then nothing. Danny's parents stared, stumped. His mom spoke up.

"Jack," she said, "Lets go start on dinner. The portal will be here in the morning. Come on Danny."

She herded both of them up the steps. Danny realized he'd left the permission slip down in the basement.

He ran back down the steps, but saw the control board was still on. Great. His dad was always doing this. The TV, the radio, even the oven, he forgot to turn everything off. Mom called it his Achilles heel. Danny called it getting old.

He went over to the control board, searching for an off switch. Of course, none of them were labeled, so he just started pressing the most likely candidates.

Which was a pretty stupid idea, because sparks started coming out of the electrical coils on the doorway. So he walked over to unplug it from the control panel.

He grabbed the cord connecting the controls to the door, which was a really stupid idea, because a moment later all he felt was white hot pain in his arm. He couldn't move his hand. He couldn't see. Jerking back, he hit the doorway. His hand spasmed, letting go of the cord.

He fell through the portal.

Danny could feel, but he couldn't. He could think, but he couldn't. He didn't know where he was, and he could see, but he couldn't. Oh God. He was dead. He was definitely dead. He was killed by his parents' stupid invention!

"Danny!" Someone called, "Dinner!"

Danny hit the ground hard. Groaning, he sat up and rubbed his head. It hurt. A lot. He was...sitting in the basement...next to the portal thing. He must have fallen. Standing, he spotted the permission slip by the control board. He grabbed it and ran upstairs.

His mom stood by the sink, scooping noodles onto plates. His dad stirred the pot of meat sauce at the stove. Spaghetti night!

"Hey Mom, could you sign this?" he asked. she didn't respond.

"Mom?"

"MOM!" Jazz called, walking up behind him. Danny turned in the doorway to look at her. She was storming up, her hairdryer hanging from the hair on the left side of her head. The name "Fenton GhostBlaster 2000" was written on the side of the hairdryer in Sharpie.

"Woah Jazz, slow down!" Danny said, but she didn't. In fact, she walked right through him. One minute she's going to run into him, the next, she's yelling at Mom and Dad in the kitchen and Danny's left with a lingering feeling of not being able to breathe. He stumbled back.

"What just happened? Jazz? Mom? Dad?" he said.

"Jazz, is Danny in his room?" Mom asked, ignoring her daughter's complaints.

"DANNY!" Jazz screamed back towards the hallway.

"I'm right here!" Danny yelled back. But Jazz didn't seem to hear him.

"No." Jazz said to her mom, then resumed her rant.

Danny stared at his family for a moment, then turned and took off for his room. He ran up the steps, but when he reached his door he couldn't turn the knob. His hand kept going through it. Frustrated, he tried to bang on the door with both hands. Apparently, the universe wouldn't even let him do that, because he fell right through the wood.

He scrambled to his feet, and ran into his bathroom. When he looked in the mirror, he nearly screamed. He wasn't there. Come to think of it... when he looked down at his hands, he couldn't see them either. How hadn't he noticed? There was only a faint distortion of the air where he was standing.

Danny spoke aloud: "How am I invisible?" Was it because he had been shocked by the stupid doorway? As he thought about it, he saw himself begin to appear. He leaned into the mirror, excited, but had another shock when he was fully visible.

He had white hair! Not like covered-in-flour-white, it was full on untouched-winter-snow-white. And his eyes were green. And glowing. In fact, all of him was glowing a little bit. He started to get worried. What would his parents say? What had even happened to him? As he became more and more anxious, he noticed he was getting taller. Or at least it seemed like he was getting taller, because his head was definitely closer to the ceiling. Looking down, he let out a yelp. He was floating! In the air! Floating in the air! Danny waved his arms around, trying to get back down. Instead, he just hit his head on the ceiling. Before he could sort out his thoughts, whatever was holding him up dropped him. He hit the tile floor hard, and let out a groan. _I give up_, he thought, laying on the floor in defeat. A horrible thought came to him. He could walk through walls, disappear, and fly. He had white hair, and was pale as...well...a ghost. A tingling sensation came over him. He was a ghost. He HAD died, and now he was a ghost.

...His parents were so going to dissect him.

"So..." Sam asked, "How are you, you know, human now?" Danny shushed her, glancing around the cafeteria.

"Danny," Tucker said, "No one is listening to us. We're the loser table."

"Whatever. And I don't know what happened, but when I stood back up, I was normal again." Sam crossed her arms.

"Convenient," she said. Danny frowned.

"You don't believe me?" he asked.

"No offense Danny, but ghosts...aren't real. Until today you were more adamant about that than Tucker and I put together."

Danny looked at his friends' disbelieving faces. Sam looked concerned, and Tucker just looked bored.

"I can prove it!" Danny blurted out. The concerned look on Sam's face grew deeper.

"Danny-"

"Follow me," he said. He led them out of the cafeteria, and into a side classroom. He walked over to one of the desks and held his hand over it.

"Watch." He swung his hand down at the desk. It struck solid with a loud slapping sound. Danny sucked in breath, jerking his hand back to his chest. He emitted a small sound of pain.

"Danny! Enough! It was cute in the cafeteria, but don't go and hurt yourself," Sam said.

"I can do this! I was doing it this morning!" Danny said, frustrated. Again, he held his hand over the desk. Closing his eyes, he concentrated very hard. He heard Sam and Tucker gasp, and he swung his hand down. This time, his now translucent hand passed right through the desk.

When he opened his eyes, Sam and Tucker were staring at him. He grinned.

"I can't do my whole body yet, but I've learned to control it. As he spoke, he started sinking down into the floor. His feet had turned translucent. He jumped up, and his feet were back.

"Kind of control it," he amended. He looked at his friends, waiting for them to talk.

Sam spoke first.

"Danny, you have to tell your parents-"

"Are you kidding?" Tucker cut in. He grinned. "This is awesome! Dude, do you know how many things we could do with this!"

"Tucker!" Sam snapped, "He's a...a ghost! That's not normal!"

"Says the goth girl," Tucker muttered. Danny stifled a laugh, and Sam's rage was turned on him.

"Danny! Something serious has happened to you, who knows what other mutations you could be going through."

"Sam, it's fine. Besides, you know how my parents feel about ghosts. They would want to experiment on me or something," Danny said, "I thought you would be more excited." Sam crossed her arms.

"Just because I'm goth doesn't mean I'm into ghosts or the occult," she said, "And I still think you should tell your parents!" She stormed out of the room. Tucker and Danny were silent for a few moments.

"So...can we go get some free soda from the drink machine?" Tucker asked. Danny grinned.

"Heck yeah!" he said, and the two boys headed off. As they walked back in the direction of the cafeteria, Danny tried to squash down the guilt he felt at making Sam so upset. _She shouldn't have been so uptigh_t, he thought. It wasn't much consolation.

Danny sat in his room that night, playing with his new abilities. He was trying to turn into a full ghost again-when he had the white hair-but he couldn't seem to get it down. He concentrated first on his hands, then his arms, but when he focused on changing any other part of his body, his hands changed back. It was infuriating. Eventually he gave up and threw himself back on his bed.

In his pocket, his phone buzzed. It was a text from Tucker:

Concrete?

Danny sighed, and replied that yes, he could phase through concrete. Well, he thought to himself, he could if only he could turn all ghost.

Danny's thoughts turned to Sam. She still wasn't talking to him. _Geez_, he thought, _girls can never just let stuff go_. Making a snap decision, he called her cell. It rang just twice, then cut to voicemail. Danny scowled.

"Sam, answer your phone!" he said at the beep, and hung up, just to call again.

"What." Sam snapped when she picked up.

"You can't keep giving me the silent treatment," Danny said.

"I'm not-whatever. I told you to call twice only in emergencies."

"Maybe you shouldn't ignore my calls."

"Maybe you shouldn't ignore my advice."

"Sam!" Danny said, "Can't I just have fun with this for a little while?"

"So you think stealing is fun now?" Sam shot back.

"It was two sodas, no one's going to miss them."

Sam was silent on the line for so long Danny thought she'd hung up. She spoke right before he took the phone away from his ear.

"Danny, I'm just worried something worse than turning invisible and floating will happen to you. I mean, if you melted into a puddle of goo or something, that would leave me alone with _Tucker_." Danny grinned.

"Aw, Sam, I didn't know you cared so much," he joked.

"Bullshit, you know I care," she said, "...No mom, I said 'push it'!"

"What?" Danny asked.

"My mom. I gotta go Danny."

"Bye."

"See ya."

Sam hung up. Danny tossed his phone onto his nightstand, glad they'd made up.

The next day at school, Sam was officially talking with the two of them. During history, she even passed Danny a note asking him what he could do with his powers. Confident their friendship was intact, Danny and Tucker went back to joking and teasing her like they usually did. She fought back with the usual merciless insults, so everything was cool. Well, until lunch.

Danny and Tucker walked up to the line, trays in hand, eager for burgers and fries. What they found was veggie burgers, whole wheat buns, and carrot sticks.

"What! Today's burger day!" Tucker said. The lady standing behind the counter shrugged.

"Menu's changed," she said, and dropped a veggie burger on Tucker's plate. Tucker and Danny, expressions of shock on their faces, walked off to join Sam, who was sitting at their socially assigned 'loser table'. She was munching happily on a veggie burger.

"I can't believe this! They've deprived me of my meat! I can't live without meat!" Sam laughed.

"You call that 'cow' mush _meat_? These are so much better for you!" Tucker pushed his tray away.

"Fine. I'll eat it," Sam said, grabbing his plate.

"Who's idea was this anyway..." Tucker muttered. Sam nearly choked on her food.

"Are you kidding me?!" she exclaimed. Tucker just looked at her, confused.

"I've been trying to get the school board to do a vegetarian education month since the first day!" Sam said.

"Why?!" Tucker said.

"Because the food is healthy, and it's good for the environment."

"Healthy? Rabbits eat this stuff! Why would you make the rest of the school eat your crazy diet for a whole month?" Tucker said.

"Really?" Sam asked. She wasn't shouting anymore, but this voice was a whole lot scarier. Danny shrunk back from the conflict. He was already on thin ice with Sam.

"Really?" she said, "Because I've been talking about it pretty much everyday for months. And every day you and Danny say you think it's a good idea. At least now I know my friends don't even listen to me."

"Sam, we listen to you-" Danny tried to say.

"Whatever Danny," she snapped, and stormed off with her tray. Danny felt guilt bubble to the top of his mind.

"This is SO not cool," Tucker said, "I'm gonna sneak out for some REAL food. Want anything Danny?"

"Nah, I'm fine," he said.

"Suit yourself." Tucker dumped the rest of his tray and left the cafeteria. Danny picked up the veggie burger, and (albeit wrinkling his nose) gave it a try. Sighing, he put it back down on his plate. It wasn't bad, just...well...it wasn't a burger. If only he could get into the kitchens and find something good to eat. A smile spread over Danny's face. _Duh Danny_, he thought. Trying to look casual, he dumped his tray and went back out to the hallway.


	2. Chapter 2

Danny ducked into an alcove of the hallway, and closed his eyes. All he had to do was turn invisible. Easy, right? He'd done it before. Taking deep breaths, he imagined himself fading into nothing, becoming thinner, and thinner, and then he disappeared altogether, and could walk in the crowded hallways with no one even knowing he was there. Taking one last deep breath, Danny opened his eyes. And found himself still fully visible.

"Crap!" he whispered, earning him a couple strange glances from passing students. Smiling nervously, he waved, but they just rolled their eyes and continued on their way.

"Yeah, just what I need. More people to think I'm weird," he muttered, and closed his eyes again.

This time, he pictured himself in front of a white background, and slowly becoming lighter and lighter, until even his dark hair was the color of snow, and then he was gone.

"Come on invisibility," he whispered, and opened his eyes again. This time, he couldn't see himself at all.

"Yeah!" he exclaimed, then slapped a hand over his mouth as several curious students looked to the seemingly empty alcove. _Better get going_, he thought. He placed his hand against the wall behind him, and concentrated just like he had been practicing for the past two days. He felt the wall soften beneath his fingers, and then he was through to his elbow.

"Come on," he whispered, placing his other hand against the wall and pushing. Slowly he started to sink through the solid cinderblock surface. With a huge intake of breath, Danny emerged on the other side, in the kitchen. A shiver went down his spine and he let out the deep breath, exhilarated.

"Sweet!" he whispered, and started looking around. Unfortunately as he did this his concentration faded, and his body became visible.

"Man! Go back!" he hissed, willing himself to be invisible again. But to no avail. Whatever stroke of luck had made him turn see-through was long gone. And before Danny could abort his mission and make a speedy exit through the double doors across the room, he heard a voice behind him.

"What'cha looking for, sugar?" Danny turned, and saw an old lunch lady, spatula in hand.

"Um...nothing. I just...well...uh..." The lunch lady smiled.

"Want something good to eat? I hear they changed the menu, some sort of super health, super vegetarian nonsense." Danny smiled back.

"Yeah, actually," he said.

"Have a cookie," the lunch lady said, "And take a few to your friends too." She handed him a brown paper bag full of chocolate chip cookies.

"Not all that nutritious, but they'll tide you over until school's done," she said, winking.

"Thank you!" Danny said, "I owe you one."

"Don't even think of it dearie," the lunch lady said, "Now, out with you, before anyone else sees." She ushered Danny out of the kitchen. He turned around to thank her again, but she had already disappeared.

Danny walked back to his locker, and found Sam there, still fuming.

"Hey," he said, "Wanna cookie?" He offered her the open paper bag. She eyed it suspiciously.

"Where did you get those? They're not on the menu," she said.

"Sympathetic lunch lady." Sam scowled.

"Great," she said, "That's just great. You know Danny, I expected a little more support than this."

"I'm sorry Sam. Tucker and I just can't appreciate the superior diet which you hold yourself to!" Danny said.

"Exac-Hey!" Sam exclaimed. Danny grinned, and offered the cookie bag again. She glared at it, musing.

"Fine," she said, "I can take a hint." She grabbed a cookie and bit into it moodily.

"Sam, I get it. It just takes a...unique person to have your independence and self control," he said. Sam smirked.

"Sweet. Now stop, you're freaking me out," she said. The bell rang.

"See you later," Sam said, grabbing her backpack and walking to class.

"See ya!" Danny called. He stuffed the cookies in his back pack and started off towards English.

When Danny came down to breakfast the next morning, Jazz was sitting at the table, reading a book about teen psychology and eating scrambled eggs. Danny grabbed a bowl, his favorite cereal, and the milk, and prepared his own meal.

"Morning little brother," she said, then went back to her reading. She was definitely the smarter of the two of them. As a junior, she was already taking three AP classes, and the rest were Honors. She tutored other students every day after school, was assistant captain on the quiz bowl team, and wrote articles for the school newspaper. Next to super-smart Jazz and ghost-crazy parents, Danny had always considered himself the 'normal one' of his family. That ended when he got secret ghost powers. Pondering this irony, he dug into his cereal before it got soggy.

Danny's mom and dad came into the kitchen with-surprise!-a ghost catching invention. They were talking animatedly about it too.

"I calibrated the sensors," Maddie said, "And it picked up on an ecto-presence in here!"

"Lemme see!" Jack exclaimed. He took the machine, and started to point around the kitchen with it. Danny froze. Did that thing really work? His dad edged closer to the table.

"I think it's over here," he said, coming closer and closer. Finally, he stood with the sensor pointing Danny right in the chest. Maddie came up behind him.

"Must have put in the wrong settings," she said, "Here, let me double check." Jazz slammed her book shut.

"I'm taking Danny to school today," she declared, and grabbed his arm. Danny barely had time to take hold of his backpack before Jazz dragged him out the door to her car, leaving their parents standing in the kitchen.

Maddie and Jack were a little bewildered.

"Jazz never offers to drive Danny to school..." Maddie said. Jack crossed his arms.

"It's almost like she's...possessed or something..." he said. Maddie turned to him.

"Jack, our daughter offering to drive does NOT mean she's possessed by a ghost." Jack shrugged.

"If you're sure..." he said, "If you really think we shouldn't check..." Maddie sighed.

"Well, we do need to test out our new EctoExtractor. It wouldn't hurt to make sure." she acquiesced.

"So..." Danny said, "Why did you offer to drive me to school?" He looked over at his sister in the driver's seat.

"Danny," Jazz said, "You're young. Impressionable. Fourteen is such a tender age. And I may only be sixteen biologically, but psychologically I'm an adult. And I know that mom and dad can have a serious affect on your development. So, as the social functioning adult in the household, it's my job to help you stick to a steady schedule of interactions and advancements. I'm reading all about it in my book."

"Right," Danny said, "If you say so."

She pulled into the school parking lot, and he jumped out of the car as quickly as possible. When he got to his locker, Tucker was there.

"Hey, Jazz drive you to school?" Tucker asked.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Because you're here early. Usually you're running in last minute," Tucker replied.

"Speaking of early," Danny said, pointing to Sam, who was walking towards them. She stopped when she saw Tucker, glared, then turned and walked in the opposite direction.

"Is she still mad at you?" Danny asked.

"She's just grumpy 'cause she found out I'm passing around a petition to get rid of vegetarian month," Tucker said. He pulled a clipboard out of his bag.

"Wanna sign?" he asked.

"I dunno Tuck, I don't want to get in the middle of this," Danny said.

"Aw, come on," Tucker goaded, "Sam will never know." Danny raised his eyebrows.

"That's what you said when we skipped out on the fifties horror movie marathon for Transformers 2. She knew. She always knows," Danny replied. The bell rang.

"Anyway, we gotta go to first period. See you at lunch Tuck."

By lunchtime, Danny was sick and tired of this feud. Tucker and Sam refused to stand next to each other in the hallways. Whoever got to the lockers first during class changes got their books, then lingered there to deliberately make the other late. During physics, which Danny had with both Sam and Tuck, he was forced to sit alone or else pick between his two friends. To top it off his last class ran late, and by the time he got to lunch both Tucker and Sam had already sat down at separate tables. Just great. Stubbornly, he sat down at an empty part of a table close to the trash cans. After a few minutes both Tucker and Sam slammed their trays down next to him.

"Guys!" Danny said, "Chill out, okay? This whole thing is stupid."

"Stupid?" Both exclaimed at the same time.

"Just sit and eat, okay?" Danny said. Scoffing and grumbling, the two did as he asked. And just when Danny thought he was going to have a peaceful meal, he felt cold liquid drop down onto his head.

"What the hell?" he yelled, whipping around to see Dash-quarterback and captain of the school's football team- standing with an empty cup.

"I asked for a grass green protein shake, and you know what they gave me? A grass green protein shake. With _real_ grass! _From the ground!_" Dash yelled.

"It's not grass, it's kale," Sam corrected. "It's a superfood."

"Whatever!" Dash said, "Fenton, this is all because of your girlfriend and her stupid diet!"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Danny protested. Dash raised the cup again to pour more protein shake on Danny's head.

"That's the point you wanna argue?" Sam hissed.

"Well you're not!" Danny replied.

"Dash! My main man, old buddy, old pal," Tucker interrupted, sidling up to the football player.

"What do you want?" Dash snapped.

"Listen," Tucker said, "I hate this new menu just as much as you do. You may have heard I've started a petition, but I don't think it's a strong enough response from the student body. And considering you're the most popular guy in school, and our priorities are-for once-aligned, perhaps we should join forces in rousing our fellow classmates? Capisce?" Dash nodded.

"What do you have in mind?" he asked. Tucker steered him away from Sam and Danny, and began to elaborate. Sam groaned.

"While I appreciate his distraction, I wish he wouldn't use it as an opportunity to attack my lunches!"

"I'm just glad Dash didn't beat me up," Danny said. Sam looked at him, then grinned at the sight of green protein shake running down his face and neck.

"Come on Danny, let's get you cleaned up," she said. They dumped their trays and went to find a vacant bathroom.

"Are you sure this is okay?" Danny whispered to Sam.

"Why are you whispering? No one comes in here anyway," Sam said. They were standing in the first floor boy's bathroom, which no one ever wanted to use because it smelled so bad.

"Still, I don't want you to get in trouble," Danny said. He was bent down with his head in a sink, and Sam was washing the drink out of his hair.

"I won't get in trouble," she said, "The teachers love me, and the students are scared of me. It's a pretty good combination. There, all done!" Danny lifted his head out of the sink and shook his hair out.

"Danny! Don't do that!" Sam exclaimed, throwing her arms up to try and block the drops of water.

"Sorry." Danny grabbed a few paper towels and tried to dry his head off more. Sam crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, watching him.

"Danny, have you thought about telling your parents?" she asked.

"That Dash dumped a protein shake on my head? Wouldn't that be tattling?" he said.

"No, you know what I mean. That you have ghost powers," Sam replied.

"Oh...not really," Danny said.

"I still think you should tell them," Sam said, "They'll be able to help you go back to normal." Danny didn't say anything for a few moments, just stared at himself in the mirror as he dried his hair.

"Sam...have you ever wanted to be different from everyone else?" he asked. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Danny, have you seen me? I'm the definition of different."

"Well then before you turned goth, didn't you want to be different?" Sam shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess," she said. Danny nodded, and turned to her.

"This," he said, making his hands turn invisible, "Makes me different." This time Sam didn't say anything for awhile. Danny couldn't quite read her expression.

"Is this what you want, though?" she said, "To be...half ghost?" Danny let his hands reappear.

"Yeah, I think it is. I dunno why, but I think it is."

Sam gave him a small smile.

"Alright then," she said, "Let's get going, class is gonna start soon."

They left the bathroom and started to walk towards their lockers. A sudden shiver went down Danny's spine, strong enough to make him stop.

"Danny, are you okay?" Sam asked.

"Yeah... that was just weird," Danny said, looking around. They were standing in an empty hallway, but he swore he felt someone watching him.

"Let's just go," he said, walking quickly towards the main hall past the foreign language classrooms.

"Wait, Danny!" Sam called, jogging to catch up with him. She grabbed his arm.

"Danny, what's wrong?" She said.

"Sam, I just want to get back-" He broke off as he looked past her. There was someone in the classroom behind her. An old, wrinkled face.

"Danny!"

Danny jerked back to reality.

"Sorry..." he said, "I...I just..." He wasn't sure why he had been so panicked, but the feeling was gone. He glanced into the classroom beyond Sam. No one was there.

"Let's go," Sam said, pulling him slowly towards the main hall.

"Yeah..." Danny said absently, letting her lead him.

That night Danny lay in bed thinking about those moments in the hallway. He swore he saw that old lunch lady in the classroom. Putting his arms out above him, he made them go translucent. If she wasn't there, he was going insane. If she was there, it was awfully strange how she just disappeared. And he hadn't thought about it before now, but it wasn't likely he was the only ghost out there. Maybe his parents were right. About everything.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day at school, Tucker was acting strange. Of course, in Tucker's case strange is a relative term. But he was jumpy, and whenever he passed Dash in the hallway, he would nod and wink.

"Tuck, what's wrong with you?" Danny finally asked on their way to lunch.

"Nothing," Tucker said, "Nothing at all."

"Really?" Danny asked, "Because last time I checked, your relationship with Dash consisted of him pushing you into lockers and stealing your clothes during gym, not winking at each other in the hallway."

"We have a temporary alliance," Tucker said.

"What kind of alliance?"

"We are partners in the trenches against this new lunch menu." Danny rolled his eyes.

"Tuck," he said, "Don't you think you're a little too worked up over this?"

"No! This was done without the knowledge or approval of the student body! It's authority trying to impose upon us a system of beliefs and values that compromise our freedom of expression!"

"What you eat isn't freedom of expression," Danny said.

"Maybe for you, but those of us with taste would disagree," Tucker replied.

"Do you mean to say Dash has taste?" Danny asked. Tucker scowled at him.

"He's the brawn, I'm the brains." Danny scoffed.

"Good luck with that Tuck," he said.

They reached the cafeteria. Once they'd gotten their food and sat down, Danny noticed that Tucker was acting even stranger. He was looking around excitedly, gaze constantly shifting to the clock and back. Sam sat down across from them.

"What's his deal?" she asked Danny.

"Dunno. Some war plan with Dash." Sam sighed.

"Once upon a time I had friends who supported me...what happened you two?" she said wistfully.

"I support you!" Danny protested. At the same time Tucker jumped to his feet and yelled:

"FOR MEAT!" And then, he threw his salad on Danny's head. There was a moment of silence, then Dash's table erupted in an explosion of flying food. And since the cool guys were doing it, the entire school decided to join in. Kids began yelling and throwing anything on their plates. Teachers shouted for order, but the anarchy had already been unleashed. Danny and Sam ducked under a table, trying to avoid getting hit.

"I'm going to kill him!" Sam hissed.

"Yeah, get in line," Danny said, "This is the second day in a row I've had food thrown on me." He wiped at some dressing that was making its way down the side of his face, then he peeked out from under the table.

"Let's make a break for it," Sam suggested. Danny was about to agree, when a familiar shiver went down his spine. He scrambled out from under the table, and began to whirl around frantically looking for-

When he saw her behind the lunch line, he froze. For a split second she was there, solid as any other person in the room, and then she was gone. Danny ran after her, climbing over the food counter and running into the kitchen beyond, ignoring the yells of the staff as he burst out the doors into an empty hallway.

"Danny!" Sam called, "Where are you-oof!" she crashed into him, knocking both of them to the floor. She started spouting out questions as she tried to get up, but Danny just pulled her closer and covered her mouth.

"Be quiet!" he hissed. They sat on the cold tile floor in near silence. The only sounds were their breathing and the buzz of the harsh white lights above. Danny stared down the hallway. He didn't see anything, but he could've sworn someone was watching him. Another shiver went down his spine. Sam yanked his hand from over her mouth.

"What is going on?" She asked. Slowly, Danny let go of her and got to his feet. She jumped up after him.

"Danny-"

"Sam, remember what you were saying about worse than turning invisible and floating?" Danny reached the end of the hallway, and turned the corner, coming upon another empty hallway. He looked back at Sam.

"I think I've been seeing another ghost." Sam frowned.

"Danny, are you-"

Her sentence turned into a muffled scream as the hallway went pitch black.

"Danny!" Sam hissed, "Is this why you were freaking out yesterday?"

"Yeah, kinda." He grabbed Sam's arm.

"Let's get out of here," he said.

Before they could move, the lights came back on with a chorus of clicking and hums. Sam eased her arm out of Danny's grip.

"Come on Danny," she said, stepping down the hall.

"Sam."

"What?"

"What do you see down there?" he asked, eyes fixed on the double doors at the end of the hallway.

Sam glanced at the doors.

"Nothing, let's go." She pulled on his arm gently. When he refused to move, she sighed and looked back down the hall.

Sam frowned. Maybe it was just her head playing tricks, but she swore she saw something in front of the doors. A disturbance in the air...like the wavy distortion over a hot road. As she stared at it, a shadow started to fade into the shifting area. It was person shaped. Fear coated her starting at her head and running down her back in an ice-cold wave. She couldn't un-see what was in front of her.

Danny didn't see a shadow. He saw an old woman, in a hairnet and apron, smiling at him from the end of the hall. This was the same old woman who handed him the cookies in the kitchen. She stepped forward.

"I hear, sweetie, your little friend there changed the menu," she said, "That menu's been the same for sixty years."

"You're a ghost," Danny said.

"I am," the lady said, "And I'm not sure why you see me, but I'm afraid I'll have to show your friend: no one changes the menu." Danny stepped in front of Sam. The old lady's smile faded.

"Come on sweetie, you said it yourself, you owe me one," she said.

"And you said don't worry about it," Danny shot back.

"Very well," she said, and disappeared. Danny glanced nervously back and forth, but the woman was nowhere in sight.

"Danny," Sam said, "Is she gone?"

The lockers on either side of them burst open, shooting across the hallway like bullets.

"Run!" Danny yelled. He grabbed Sam's hand and sprinted down the hall, bursting through the double doors into yet another empty hallway. Lockers broke open behind them, books and binders and paper spilling out of them and flying around in unnatural gusts of wind. By the time they got to the third hallway, Danny needed a new plan. Both he and Sam were out of breath, and they couldn't run forever. They skidded to a stop on the tile, and turned to face the oncoming wave of chaos. Abruptly, the hallway grew still, books slapping the floor with the full force of gravity, and paper gently fluttering down to rest on top. The old lady appeared before him.

"Come ON Danny!" Sam yelled.

"Go," he whispered.

"What?"

"Get out of here. Get out of the school," he hissed.

"No! I'm not leaving you!" Sam snapped.

The lunch lady glided towards them slowly. As she passed each new locker, it burst open and flung its contents out onto the floor.

"You're not getting Sam," Danny called out. The old lady stopped less than an arm's length from him, but Danny stood his ground. He felt his heart start to beat faster, but he refused to look away from her eyes, or turn and flee. As they stared each other down, he felt his eyes start to dry and sting. _Don't blink_, he told himself, _don't you dare blink_. But his eyes stung and his vision blurred.

He blinked. Then the lady's hands were around his throat. Her face was twisted into an ugly snarl, and she lifted him up high above her head with a strength that she should not have. Danny felt the air begin to grow stale in his lungs as he stared down into her face. He heard Sam yelling, and something tugging on his leg, but the sensations were insignificant compared to what he was seeing.

As he stared, her face started to change. Her wrinkles grew more defined, her skin more waxy. All the fat drained out of her face, and her eyes sunk back into her head. Her skin split open, revealing rotting flesh and yellowed bone beneath. Her bony fingers squeezed Danny's throat tighter, and he started to choke and cough. He felt himself starting to grow lighter and lighter, and then a cool sensation spread over his whole body. His blood stopped pumping, and he felt he was floating. Danny closed his eyes.

When he snapped them open a second later, they were a glowing green. Sensation rushed back into his head, ten times stronger than before.

"Danny?! What the hell?" Sam screamed, voice hoarse. The old lady recoiled from him, disappearing with a hiss. Danny turned to find Sam sprawled out on the floor.

"Sam!" he said, "Are you okay?"

"What happened to you?" she squeaked, "One minute you're normal, and next you're...this."

Danny looked down at himself. He was glowing, and floating. Exactly like he was right after he fell through his parents' archway. Pushing away his shock, he grabbed Sam's hand and pulled her into his arms.

"Come on," he said, "We gotta go." As he said so, the remaining lockers burst open, and he could've sworn he heard a woman screaming. Looking past Sam, he saw the old woman. Except she didn't look so much like an old woman, more like a corpse.

"Hold on!" Danny said to Sam.

"Why?" He didn't answer her question, but closed his eyes, and pictured himself down the hall, past the woman. He shot forward like a bullet, whizzing past her and around the next corner. Sam was screaming in his arms.

"Danny! Slow down! There's a wall ahead of us!"

"I know!" he yelled back, "We're going through!" Sam barely had time to shout 'what?' at the top of her lungs before they hit the wall, and shot right through. Or rather, Danny did. He found himself in a darkened classroom, alone.

"No, no, no, no, no," he said under his breath, and flew back through the wall. He landed on the ground, looking around for Sam.

"Sam?!" he called, "Sam!" No answer. Before him, the hallway lay in ruins. he turned, and looked at the wall. There was a large, roughly-Sam shaped dent.

"Sam..." he whispered.

"Mr. Fenton! What happened to this hallway?" the sharp voice of Mr. Lancer, Dean of Students cut through Danny's thoughts. Crap! He was still-Danny looked down at himself-...wasn't...still...a ghost. He was back in jeans and a t-shirt.

"Fenton-oh, never mind. Come with me," Mr. Lancer said. Numbly, Danny followed Mr. Lancer down the hall into his office.

Danny and Tucker sat across from Mr. Lancer in his office. Tucker had put on his best 'not guilty' face (which, of course, only made him look like a criminal) and Danny tapped on the wooden arms of the chairs, anxious to go and find Sam.

"Now, I don't know why you two would want to start a food fight in the cafeteria, but I heard from several sources that the chaos unfolded first at your table. Boys, we have to discuss the repercussions of these actions," Mr. Lancer droned.

"And who told you that we started this? Was it anyone from the table of rowdy, rule-bending football players who happen to hate this new diet because it tastes like rabbit food?" Tucker asked.

"Mr. Foley, we are not here to discuss other students. We are here to discuss you and Mr. Fenton-"

"Yeah, well Dash helped plan it too! He got everyone else in on it!" Tucker burst out. Mr. Lancer raised his eyebrows.

"So that means you did intend to start the food fight?" he said. Danny's tapping grew faster, and he glanced at the clock. Ten minutes since Sam disappeared. Ten minutes and 1 second. Ten minutes and 2 seconds.

"I told you: Dash helped!" Tucker exclaimed. Mr. Lancer gave Tucker his concerned teacher face.

"Tucker, I've noticed you and Dash have trouble living harmoniously, but he has three teachers who will vouch for the fact he tried to stop the food fight. He showed real leadership in there. Leadership he used for good. Tucker, I think you're a natural born leader too, but you can't use your skills for evil. With great power, comes great responsibility. Be Spiderman, not the Green Goblin."

"Um...Mr. Lancer...I don't really care about Spiderman. I'm a techno geek, not a nerd," Tucker said. Mr. Lancer sighed. Ten minutes and thirty five seconds. Ten minutes and thirty six seconds.

"Listen boys, we need to discuss your way of restoring a balance to the school, which will only get to be a much bigger task if you don't STOP TAPPING!" Danny froze, then dropped his hands into his lap. Mr. Lancer sighed again.

"I hate doing this, boys. This is the worst part of my job. But you gotta give me something to work with. How about this, because this is the first serious infraction on both your parts, you two clean up the mess in the cafeteria, we call it even."

"What?" Tucker said, ready to negotiate.

"Done!" Danny blurted out.

"What?" both Tucker and Mr. Lancer said.

"Done. We'll do it. We'll clean the cafeteria. We shouldn't have started the food fight, because the new menu is great for broadening our horizons and awareness of our physical and mental health. Can we go get started?" Danny said. Eleven minutes and nine seconds. Eleven minutes and ten seconds.

"Danny, let's think about this," Tucker said, but Mr. Lancer talked over him.

"Mr. Fenton, I'm not sure why you are so willing to do this, but I certainly hope it's because you are genuinely sorry for your actions."

"So sorry," Danny said, "You have no idea how sorry. Can we go start now?"

"I suppose so," Mr. Lancer said, "I'll let your teachers know. There are cleaning supplies in the cafeteria." Danny was already out the door.

Tucker ran to catch up with him.

"Danny, what is up with you, man?" he asked.

"She's got Sam."

"Who's got Sam?" Danny stopped, and Tucker nearly crashed into him.

"The ghost. The other ghost. Look, I don't know, but I know she's got Sam and we have to go back to the cafeteria and look for her," Danny said.

He took off again.

"Another ghost?" Tucker said, "Hold up! There's another ghost running around?"

"Yes! And she's got Sam!" Danny exclaimed. He and Tucker made it to the cafeteria. Danny froze. No, really, he felt the shiver that always came with the presence of another ghost. Like a sort of ghost sense.

"Start looking around," Danny ordered.

"Wait, so we're not gonna clean the cafeteria?" Tucker asked, "Not that I'm complaining. Just to clarify." Danny turned to him, trying to contain anger.

"Sam has been kidnapped by a ghost, and you're worried about the cafeteria?" He asked.

"You know what, never mind," Tucker said, and started looking around under tables. Danny rolled his eyes.

"Hey Danny, check this out," Tucker said. He was pointing at a series of pictures on the wall.

"This was the original staff of the kitchens back in the fifties." Danny walked over and looked up at the pictures. He stared at the one on the right.

"That's her. That's the ghost I saw," he said. Tucker read the name under the picture frame.

"Mary Stugers."

The room cooled, and Danny felt someone watching him. He turned to the kitchens, and caught a glimpse of Mary.

"Come on Tuck," he said, and jumped the counter.


	4. Chapter 4

Danny thought he heard something from the back of the kitchen. He eased his way around a rolling cart, and pressed his ear against the cold metal door of the frozen door shook with a muffled thump, and he could hear someone shouting. It was Sam. Danny grabbed the handle and tugged on it. It didn't budge.

"It's locked," he said to Tucker, "Look around for a key." They started looking in drawers and under pots and pans. No key.

"Keep looking," Danny said, "I'm going to check on Sam." He walked back over to the metal door and placed his palms flat against it. He closed his eyes, letting the feel of the smooth metal take over his senses. Slowly, he began to press against the door. It resisted him, more than the wall.

"Come on," he hissed, pushing through to his wrists. He shut out the sound of banging pots and pans as Tucker searched for a key, and wrenched his eyes shut even tighter. He braced his feet against the floor and threw himself at-_through_, he thought-the door. With a thud, he fell to the floor on the other side. He sat up, rubbing his forehead.

"Danny?" Sam asked. She pulled him into a tight hug.

"Sam, are you okay?" Danny said. She sat back, cross-legged.

"Apart from being locked in a giant refrigerator? I'm fine," she replied, "Can you get me out of here?"

"Tucker's looking for a key right now."

"Okay."

Sam sighed.

"So...what are you gonna do about the ghost?" she asked. Danny leaned against the door.

"I don't know..." he said, "I..."

"You what?" Sam asked. But he was looking past her.

"Oh no," she whispered. She knew what that look meant.

Sam spun around, backing up until she was against the door next to Danny.

"Is she here?" She asked.

"Yeah," Danny said, eyes fixed on the ghost of Mary Stugers. He rose shakily to his feet and stepped towards her. Sam tried to stand next to him, but he pushed her behind him, back towards the door.

"Oh, I feel so safe," Sam hissed. Danny ignored her. Mary Stugers still didn't move. She hovered by the back wall, barely five feet away. She was full-on corpse now. Green skin that sagged and tore. Rotting eyes in distorted sockets. Patchy frizzy hair, and a tattered apron that may have been white, once upon a time. Beneath the apron her skin was covered in a stony exo-skeleton, run through with glowing veins. It was disturbingly similar to Danny's suit when he turned into a ghost.

The ghost's lips pulled upwards, revealing yellowed teeth and blackened gums. Danny curled his hands into fists.

"Stay away," he warned. Sam yelped as the door behind her opened. She stumbled backward into Tucker, knocking the both of them to the floor. Danny turned and ran out of the fridge, shutting the door behind him.

"Come on!" he shouted, "Let's-" he was cut off mid-sentence as Mary Stugers crashed into him, pinning him against the wall.

"Danny!" Sam yelled.

"She's here?" Tucker squeaked. They turned, and saw Danny struggling to get his arms free. The air before him distorted, and a shadowy figure faded into their view.

"Hey!" Sam shouted. She grabbed a pot and threw it at the ghost. It went right through, striking Danny hard in the chest.

"Ow! Sam!" He coughed out.

"Your powers, stupid!" she said. Danny craned his neck, trying to get his face away from Mary Stugers's. He closed his eyes tightly, willling himself to change, for his hair to turn white and his eyes green, and his skin ghostly pale. But it wasn't working. He felt bony fingers once again wrap around his neck, and _squeeze_.

"What do we do?" Tucker asked.

"I don't know! My ghost phase was in seventh grade!" Sam yelled, "All I remember is...they don't like salt! Find some salt!" She and Tucker started throwing open cabinets.

"Here!" Tucker said. He tossed a bag of salt to Sam. She ripped the top open, and ran over to the ghost.

"Take this!" she yelled. Sam threw the entire bag at her head. As soon as the salt hit her skin, the ghost screamed and started smoking. A burning smell filled the air, and Mary Stugers, still screaming, flew up into the ceiling. Danny collapsed to the floor.

Jazz walked into her house, and froze. Something was off. It was too quiet. Usually her parents greeted her as soon as she walked in the door, her mother asking her about her day, and her father clambering to show her a new invention. The other car was still in the driveway, so they had to be in the house somewhere.

"Mom! Dad!" she yelled, "I'm home! Danny's riding the bus!" No answer. Shrugging, Jazz headed for the stairs. When she was about halfway up, she heard yelling from both above and below her.

"Mom? Dad?" she said. Her parents appeared at the top and bottom of the steps, trapping her on the stairs, spray bottles in their hands.

"Don't move!" her father yelled.

"Mom! Dad!" Jazz shouted. They ran at her, and started spritzing water at her face. Jazz threw up her arms.

"What is going on!?" she shouted. Her parents stopped.

"Do you feel alright, sweetie?" her mom asked. Jazz glared at her.

"Do I feel alright? Aside from being half-soaked for no good reason?" Jazz snapped.

"Great! You're not possessed," her dad said. Jazz turned her glare on him.

"You know dad, maybe if you spent less times on ghosts and more time on your family, you wouldn't be spraying your daughter with what I really hope is water when she gets home from school!" She pushed past him and stormed off to her room.

Jack turned to Maddie. She crossed her arms at him

"I know what you're gonna say, at least she's not possessed," Jack said. Maddie moaned and went down to the kitchen.

"Maddie, it's not a big deal. We sprayed her with some purifying water, she overreacted," Jack said. Maddie leaned on the counter with her elbows, dropping her head into her hands.

"Jack, I don't know how you always convince me to do this stuff!" Maddie said, "Jazz is right, we are freakishly obsessed."

Jack put his hands on her shoulders.

"We are not freakishly obsessed," he said soothingly.

"We are! We are! We do these things without even thinking about it! We decided our daughter was possessed by a ghost because she offered to drive our son to school." She turned to her husband.

"What is wrong with us? When did this ghost research take over our lives so much?" Jack opened his mouth. Then shut it. Then opened it again. Then shut it and shrugged. Maddie sighed and pushed past him.

"I've got to get back to my office," she said, grabbing her car keys.

"Bye honey," Jack called as she walked out. The door slammed shut. He grabbed the spray bottles of water and headed back down to the lab.

"Be quiet," Sam hissed to Danny and Tucker. She opened Danny's back door slowly, and peeked into his kitchen.

"Come on, and shush!" she said. She held the door open and Tucker helped Danny inside. They walked over to the table, and Danny collapsed into one of the chairs with a groan.

"Ow," he said.

"What hurts?" Sam asked.

"Everything. Could you grab the first aid kit? It's in the cabinet beside the fridge."

As Sam grabbed the big black case, Danny pulled his shirt off to examine his injuries. He had a huge round bruise forming in the middle of his chest, and finger-shaped welts wrapped around his neck. Other cuts and bruises dotted his torso and arms.

"Sorry I threw a pot at you..." Sam said, eyeing the bruise on his chest. She put the first aid kit down on the table, and Danny started digging through it.

"It'll be fine," he said, "Don't worry about it." He dug out a tube of Neosporin and some bandaids. As Danny started sticking bandaids on his cuts, Tucker paced around the kitchen.

"This is insane! There's another ghost! And she's after Sam! What are we gonna do, how do we beat her? You can't kill a ghost, right? Right?"

"Tucker!" both Danny and Sam snapped.

"Sorry. I'm sorry. This is freaky. I don't do freaky." Danny placed a bandaid on his shoulder, and checked for any more cuts. Seeing none, he threw everything back into the first-aid kit.

"Listen," he said, "It's been a long day. For all of us. Let's all just go home and get some rest. We'll regroup tomorrow."

"Sir yes sir," Sam said, giving him a fake salute.

"Sam."

"Sorry," she said.

"Danny? Is that you?" his dad called from the basement.

"Go!" Danny hissed at his friends. He pulled his shirt back on as they ran out the back door.

"Hey Dad! I'm home!" Danny called. His dad walked into the kitchen.

"Danny! Guess what!"

"...What?"

"You're sister's not possessed!" Danny shook his head.

"That's great dad," he said, and headed towards his room.

"Wait, Danny," his dad called. Danny stopped on the steps, and leaned down to look through the railing. His dad seemed to be struggling with his words.

"Does it...bother you that your mom and I study ghosts?" Danny shook his head.

"No," he said quickly, and turned to leave.

"Danny."

"What?"

"Really, does it bother you?" Danny sighed.

"Dad. I'm used to it. Jazz is the one who hates the ghost obsession," Danny said. His dad nodded, and Danny ran up the steps and into his room. He tossed his backpack on the bed and locked himself in his bathroom.

"Okay Danny," he said, "You can do this." He put his hands down on the counter and leaned over the sink, nearly touching his nose to the mirror.

"You can do this..." He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

"I am...a ghost!" he said, and opened his eyes. The same old him stared back. He closed his eyes again.

"I am pale. I am light. I am...I am floating. I am...this is stupid." He started pacing back and forth. There had to be some way to turn into a full ghost, like he was the first time Mary Stugers attacked him. Or when he fell through the doorway. He turned and looked at his reflection.

"The doorway!"

A few minutes later he was standing in the basement, staring at the complex control board for the portal. There were, like, a zillion buttons on this thing. He should've paid more attention when his dad fired it up.

"Um...this one," he muttered absently, pressing a large button that looked like it could be the power. Nope. He pressed another. Still nothing. An idea struck him. Danny felt across the back of the control board, and found a switch.

"Ha!" he exclaimed, and with a click the board came to life. The coils on the doorway started sparking. He walked over to it hesitantly, jumping back as a bolt of electricity shot from coil to coil. Grimacing, he held his hand out and touched the warm metal.

"Ow!" he yelped, jerking his hand back. He spun in a little circle, cursing under his breath and shaking his hand to regain feeling.

Danny glared at the doorway, fighting with himself.

"Gah-fine!"

He sighed and closed his eyes, once again reaching out to the doorway.

"Ghost. I am turning into a ghost," he said, "I am going to become a ghost." His fingers touched the doorway and he felt a strong current of electricity shooting up his arm. It hurt. A lot.

"I'm...I'm going...I'm going ghost!" he exclaimed. The coils sparked, and a flash of electricity illuminated the lab. Danny was blown backwards from the doorway, flying towards a table. He threw his arms up over his head, but fell through the table and landed on the floor. He scrambled to his feet, looking down at himself.

"Ha! Ha ha!"

He was a ghost! Pale skin, green eyes, white hair-the whole lot! And he had a long night ahead of him.


	5. Chapter 5

"Danny?" Sam asked, "Are you okay? You look-"

"Like a zombie," Tucker said. Danny yawned, and closed his locker.

"I was up all night-" yawn "-practicing with my powers. I think I can take the ghost next time we-" yawn "-see her," he said.

"Danny, you can't fight a ghost like this," Sam said.

"Fenton! Foley!" Danny, Sam, and Tucker turned to see Mr. Lancer power-walking down the hall towards them.

"My office! Now!" he snapped. He herded Danny and Tucker down the hallway and into the room. They sat stiffly in the chairs as he glared at them from over the desk.

"Boys we had a deal. You clean up the cafeteria, we take no more disciplinary measures. Wasn't that our deal?" Danny and Tucker nodded.

"Then why was it that when I came to work this morning, I found our maintenance staff mopping up day-old food mush?" He looked between the two of them, eyebrows raised, waiting for an answer.

"...We didn't clean the cafeteria," Tucker admitted.

"I gathered," Mr. Lancer said. He looked to Danny, who stopped mid-yawn and snapped his mouth shut.

"Sorry Mr. Lancer," he said, "Really, we are."

"Listen," Mr. Lancer said, "I don't want to have to do this, but you boys have detention this Saturday morning."

"What?" Tucker objected.

"AND the Saturday after that for trying to get out of our first arrangement," Lancer said, "Now get to class." Danny and Tucker left his office. Tucker was fuming.

"Man!" he said, "This sucks! We save Sam's life and what do we get in return? Detention! I've never been in detention before!"

"You shouldn't have started the food fight," Danny said.

"Shut up," Tucker snapped.

"Whatever, see you at lunch," Danny said, turning into his class. Tucker scoffed and walked down the hall to his classroom.

Right before lunch, Sam caught up with Danny outside the cafeteria. She grabbed his arm, and pulled him out of the traffic flow roughly.

"You can't go in there!"

"Why not?" Danny asked.

"Mary Stugers," Sam hissed, "What if she attacks you when you're in there? You can't turn into a ghost in front of the whole school!"

"Sam, she's not going to attack when so many people are around."

"How do you know?"

"Trust me," Danny said. Sam scowled.

"Fine. But if anything happens, I told you so!"

They walked into the cafeteria, and looked around for any sign of paranormal visitors. But everything seemed to be in order. Kids were eating the new health food, devoid of the revolution that sparked just a day ago. Teachers chatted about teacher things at the far tables. Just another normal day at school. Sam narrowed her eyes at it. In her opinion, it was far too calm to be trusted.

"Come on Sam, let's get our food."

Danny and Sam grabbed their trays and sat down at the usual table, and a few minutes later Tucker joined them. He brought his own lunch that day, a little personal rebellion against the new menu.

"Before you two say anything," he said, "Yes I know I could've brought this yesterday. It was a matter of honor that pushed me to fight for my cafeteria food, and in the face of defeat, I surrender to the tedious task of packing lunch every morning. Sam, I hold you responsible for this."

"Tucker," Sam said, "You are clinically insane."

"Enough guys," Danny said, "Say you're sorry, both of you." Sam scowled.

"Sorry," she said, begrudgingly.

"Sorry," Tucker snapped back. _Eh, good enough_, Danny thought. Now he just had to figure out how to deal with the ghost. Right on cue, a shiver ran down his spine.

"She's here," Danny muttered.

"What?" Tucker whispered.

"Mary Stugers. She's here." His eyes flicked around the cafeteria, looking for any sign of her.

"Danny!" Sam snapped, "What did I say when we were outside the cafeteria?" Danny didn't answer her, still searching for the ghost.

"I said this was going to happen!" Sam said, "I-"

She was interrupted by every table and chair in the cafeteria flying up into the air. Chaos ensued. Kids fell from five, ten, fifteen feet high onto a hard linoleum floor, screaming. Teachers forgot they were authority figures, and clutched the pieces of furniture as tightly as the students did. Sam, Tucker, and Danny clung to their chairs, staring at the drop to the ground.

"I told you so!" Sam shouted at Danny.

The air in the room started whipping around like a tornado, taking backpacks and trays and bits of food with it.

"Danny!" Tucker yelled, "Do something!"

"I can't!" Danny yelled back, "I can't change here!" As he spoke, whatever held the tables and chairs up dropped them, and with violent bangs and clashes the furniture fell back to the ground.

"Come on!" Sam said. She grabbed Danny's hand and pulled him out of the cafeteria and into the kitchen.

"Guys!" Tuckers said from the other side of the counter, "You're going to go IN to the creepy haunted kitchen?"

Danny was about to reply, but Sam jumped in.

"No time. Danny, you have to change. Now."

"Okay," Danny said. He closed his eyes, and clenched his fists, taking deep breaths.

"It's not working!" Sam said.

"Give me a minute." Danny tried concentrating harder, squeezing his eyes shut and covering his ears to mask the sounds of the chaotic cafeteria.

"Danny!" Sam said, "You have to hurry."

"Shit!" he said, opening his eyes, "It was working last night!"

"Tuck, get over here!" Sam snapped, nearly pulling him over the cash register into the kitchen. The three ducked down, hiding behind the food counter.

"How did you do this last night?" Sam asked. Danny groaned.

"I used the doorway-the portal thingy my parents built. I went down and turned it on, then nearly electrocuted myself when I touched it, then I was a ghost."

"Wait a second," Tucker said, "You nearly electrocuted yourself?"

"But I didn't!" Danny reminded him.

"No..." Tucker said, "That's not it...how did you turn into a ghost the first time?"

"...I touched the doorway...and nearly electrocuted myself!" Danny said, excited.

"But it wasn't like that in the hallway when the ghost kidnapped me," Sam said, "What happened then?"

"The ghost was strangling me," Danny said, "It felt like I was about to die."

"That's it!" Tucker said, "You're turning into a ghost, right? So maybe you've got to be almost dead to do it!"

"Yeah!" Danny said, he stood, looking back into the cafeteria. Students and teachers were trying to get the doors open, but they were sealed shut. Even worse, there were a lot of kids just laying on the ground, motionless. Danny felt another shiver, and the ghost of Mary Stugers appeared across the cafeteria.

"Crap," he said. Whipping around, he grabbed a large pan and handed it to Tucker.

"Hit me!" Danny said, pointing at his head.

"What?" Tucker asked. He held the pan gingerly.

"Hit me!" Danny repeated.

"Dude," Tucker said, "I'm not hitting you with a-"

"Give me that!" Sam snapped. She grabbed the pan out of his hands and raised it over her shoulder like a baseball bat. Danny winced in advance, closing his eyes. _I'm going ghost_, he thought, _hopefully_. Seconds later, there was a shooting pain the the side of his head, and he saw stars.

Danny fell, hitting the tile hard. Sam and Tucker looked down at him. He didn't move.

"Sam, you killed Danny!" Tucker yelled, grabbing Sam's shoulders and shaking her dramatically. She slapped at his arms, pointing at Danny.

"Hold on," she said, "Look!"

They stared as Danny started to change. He began glowing slightly, and his skin and hair paled to white. What was more astonishing were the greenish veins that sprouted from his skin, and the stony skin that filled in between them. A waxy white layer covered his lower arms and legs, seeping out from his pores.

"Holy crap," Tucker said.

Danny's eyes flew open, and he jumped to his feet.

"Did it work?"

"Yeah it worked!" Tucker said, "This is awesome!" Danny looked back to the cafeteria, and Mary Stugers. She was waiting for him, in the middle of the tables, chairs, food, and utensils flying around the room.

"See if you can get all the people out," he said to Sam and Tucker, "I've got a ghost to fight."

He hopped over the counter, and approached Mary Stugers. Taking a deep breath, he rose shakily into the air. The students and teachers who had been banging on the doors noticed him, and started screaming and pointing.

"It's a ghost!" someone yelled. Danny stopped, and turned to the shouter.

"Wait, what? No! I'm the good guy! She's-oh never mind!" He looked back at Mary Stugers just in time to see three tables flying at him. He threw his arms over his face, turning intangible at the last minute. The tables flew threw him and hit the ground, then skidded and slammed against the food counter with a loud bang.

"Over here!" Danny heard Sam call, "There's a way out!" All the people who were able started rushing towards the counter. Mary Stugers whipped her head towards Sam's voice. She hissed, and started flying towards the kitchen.

"Oh no you don't!" Danny said, flying in front of her. She screamed at him, and tried to go around, but Danny put his arms out and blocked her. Screaming again, she flew up and over him.

"No fair! I'm still learning how to do this!" Danny yelled, turning and flying after her as best he could. He grabbed onto her feet. Again she hissed and turned to face him, throwing several chairs at him. Danny dodged them, barely. He glanced towards the kitchen. Sam and Tucker had gotten the last few people out, and were standing by the doors, waiting for him.

"Go!" he yelled. Mary Stugers turned back to Sam.

"Not you!" Danny yelled. He flew at her back, pushing her forward towards the kitchen, through the wall, through another wall, and into a hallway. Kids and teachers were running towards the exit, screaming as the ghosts appeared in their midst. They scattered away from Danny, but ran right through his opponent.

"Why can't they see you like they see me?" Danny yelled. Mary Stugers cackled. No joke, cackled.

"You're different from me sweetie," she replied, and flew at Danny. For the third time-and Danny was getting really tired of this-she wrapped her hands around his throat. He grabbed her wrists and pulled, but her fingers dug into his neck. Okay, maybe he wasn't ready to take on another ghost.

Jack and Maddie Fenton pulled up to the school, and saw teachers and students spilling out of the front doors in a panic.

"What do you think is going on?" Jack asked.

"I don't know..." Maddie replied. They got out of the car and ran into the fray.

"Mom! Dad!" Jazz yelled. She ran up to them and threw her arms around her parents.

"What's happening here?" Maddie asked her. Jazz shook her head.

"It's impossible. We were in the cafeteria for lunch and then...a ghost appeared!" she said, "I couldn't believe my own eyes! Mom, Dad-"

"Jazz, honey," her mom said, "Before you say anything else, your father has something he'd like to tell you."

"Yeah, not really the time. Actually, it's a great time for you to test-"  
"Jazz," her dad said, "I'm not sure what's going on here, but I've realized something."

"Okay, can it wait-"

"Sweetheart, I want to get this off my chest. All of this ghost nonsense-your mother and I have realized it has completely been disrupting our lives. I'm sorry."

"Yeah dad, that's great. But I don't think you're hearing me. There is a GHOST in our SCHOOL. Right now."

"Wait really? You weren't pulling our legs?" her dad said.

"Yeah! I'm sure. Pale, white hair, glowing-it's a ghost," Jazz said.

"A physical manifestation? Full figure? With features? This is very intriguing..."

"Jack," Maddie said, "Did you leave the thermos in the car?"

"Yes! I-" he froze, then turned to Jazz.

"Is this alright with you?" he asked.

"Yes!" she snapped, "Go! Save!" She pushed them towards the car. They grabbed an odd thermos from the back, and ran towards the doors. Jazz spotted Sam and Tucker through the crowd, and pushed her way over to them.

"Where's Danny?" she asked, frantic.

"We don't know," Sam said.

"Help me look for him! Meet back by my parent's car," Jazz said. She turned, and started searching for the familiar form of her younger brother.

"Please be alright," she muttered under her breath.

"Come out ghost!" Jack declared when he and Maddie entered the building.

"Shh!" Maddie hissed, grabbing the thermos from him.

"What?" Jack asked.

"We don't announce our presence!"

It didn't much matter whether they announced it or not, the halls were silent now, devoid of people. Even their whispers echoed off the lockers and floor.

"Do you hear that?" Maddie asked.

"Yeah...sounds like someone yelling." They snuck over to a turn in the hallway and looked down.

"Classic signs of a poltergeist," Jack said, "Flickering lights, moving objects. And there are plenty of angry teens here to attract one."

"Look," Maddie said, pointing down the hallway. A glowing figure was there, with his back to them. It seemed to be the ghost of a boy.

"Looks like we have a winner," Jack said. Maddie stepped out into the hallway, holding the thermos out like a gun. She started walking towards the ghost.

"Just a little closer..." she muttered. Jack watched her progress from down the hall. This ghost was weird though, it almost looked like he was...fighting someone. Suddenly, he flew towards Maddie, knocking her over and sending the thermos flying.

"Maddie!" Jack yelled, running over to her.

"Are you alright?" he asked, helping her to her feet.

"I'm fine, Jack. Where'd the thermos go?" They glanced around, but couldn't see it anywhere.

One hallway over, Danny held the thermos carefully in his hands.

"Thank you ghost-obsessed mom and dad," he muttered. He floated carefully, looking down every hallway for Mary Stugers. With a loud bang, the lockers on either side of him flew open, contents bursting into the hall. A loud scream echoed around him. Danny whipped around, and saw her charging him.

"Crap, crap, crap," he said quickly, trying to screw the lid off the thermos. She was twenty feet away. Ten feet. Five feet. Finally! The cap came off with a loud pop, and Danny raised the thermos out in front of him, bracing for impact.

He felt the weight of the ghost slam into his arms. Then it was gone. He opened his eyes. Mary Stugers had disappeared. He looked into the thermos. A glowing green light floated inside. Danny landed, and screwed the cap back on.

"And stay there," he muttered.

"Danny? Is that you?" he heard his mom call.

"Mom?" A second later he was engulfed in a tight hug. He looked down at his hands over his mom's shoulder. Sure enough, he was inexplicably back to normal.

"Are you alright? What happened? Is that our thermos? Did you catch the ghost?" his dad asked.

"Yeah..." Danny said, "I think I got it."

"Great!" his dad yelled, grabbing the thermos, "We finally have a specimen to study! This guy's going straight to the lab!"

"Jack," Maddie said threateningly.

"After we have a family discussion of course," he amended.

And they did have a family discussion. Back home, after Jazz yelled at Danny for 'hiding' in the school when he was supposed to be outside with his friends, and then promptly renounced her previous statement about seeing a ghost.

"Trick of the light," she said, when her parents pressed her.

"So you don't want us to continue our research?" her mother asked. Jazz crossed her arms.

"I didn't say that. Better safe than sorry," she said, and stomped off to her room.

"What about you Danny?" his dad asked him. Danny thought about it for a moment.

"Sure, it's a little weird. But today it saved my life so...I'm cool with you guys studying ghosts. Just...not too weird, okay?"

"You got it," his mom said, smiling at him.

"Thanks," Danny said.

"Go relax sweetie," she said, then glanced at her watch, "Dinner in an hour." Danny nodded and headed up to his room. He lay down on his bed, and in ten minutes fell alseep. Jazz came to wake him for dinner, but seeing him laying there decided he needed his rest. It had been a stressful day for all of them.

"Don't scare me again," she whispered to him, even though she knew he couldn't hear her.

"Danny," Tucker said, "Why are we here at such an ungodly hour of the morning?"

"Tucker it's seven o'clock," Sam said, "That is not ungodly."

"Pay attention kids!" Danny's dad said, "You are about to see history being made!" He stood in front of a large fish tank. The top and bottom edges had been lined with trails of salt.

"Now, you'll have to watch very carefully if you want to hunt ghosts, this is an important step in capturing a specimen to study," he said.

"Dad, I don't want to hunt ghosts," Danny said, "I want to be an astronaut." He nearly laughed aloud at the irony of the statement. Sam spoke up.

"I was into ghosts, but they're so mainstream now," she said.

"Waste my good looks hunting ghosts? I don't think so," Tucker added. Mrs. Fenton cleared her throat.

"Jack, dear," she said, "Get on with it."

"Anyway, if you ever decide you do want to hunt ghosts, remember this moment." He picked up the Fenton thermos, and lowered it into the fish tank without disturbing the salt lines.

"Be very careful now," he said, "You don't want to let it get you while your hands are in the tank." He unscrewed the lid and dropped the thermos, pulling his arms out quickly.

"...Was something supposed to happen?" Tucker asked.

"What! Danny! I thought you said you got the ghost!"

"I did, Dad, I don't know what happened to it. Maybe it just slipped out when you weren't watching," he said.

"Now we have to go find a new specimen!" Danny's dad complained.

"Sorry Dad," Danny said, "We'll see you later."

He fled up the steps with Sam and Tucker right on his heels.

"So," Sam said once they were in the kitchen, "It 'slipped out'?" She smirked at Danny who shrugged.

"She might have had a little help back into the ghost dimension," he said, "We won't be hearing from Mary Stugers again."

"I hope," Sam added, "But if your parent's portal thing connects their dimension and ours, there could be more ghosts out there."

"Yeah," Danny said.

He thought about a future of fighting more ghosts. It wasn't a happy one. He really would rather be an astronaut. Tucker broke him out of his glum thoughts.

"Ghost dimension? That name sucks. It needs something cooler. Something slick..." Tucker said.

"What about the 'Ghost Zone'?" Sam suggested.

"I like it, I like it," Tucker replied, "Now for Danny. If he's gonna do the whole hero thing, he needs some sort of catch phrase. You know 'it's a bird, it's a plane' or something like that."

"I've got that one covered," Danny said, "It'll be: Going ghost!" Tucker mused over it.

"Nah, that's kind of lame," he said. Danny drew back, offended.

"And 'Ghost Zone' isn't?"

"Besides," Sam interrupted, "A superhero name is more important. You can't just go around calling yourself Danny, everyone would find out who you were." They sat in silence for a few moments.

"How about 'Danny Phantom'!" Tucker suggested, "Get it, 'cause it sounds like 'Danny Fenton'?"

"Too obvious," Sam replied, "But...I think I like 'Phantom' all on it's own."

"It's settled then! From here on out, whenever I'm in ghost form, I am 'Phantom'," Danny said. He waited a moment, letting it sink in.

"And my catch phrase is totally 'Going ghost," he added.

At that point, Danny couldn't have imagined his future. But someone could. And that someone was watching. He would always be watching. The half-ghost hero of Amnity Park had certainly caught his eye.

_And that's it! At least for this episode. I'm planning out stories to go along with the rest of the first season, so keep an eye out for more. Thanks for reading, let me know what you think of the changes I've made, and I hope you enjoyed it! -LizzieLovett2326_


End file.
